The Syrian Commercial Bank announced the extension of the validity of the banking cards issued by it to four years instead of three years, after a crisis in salary disbursement faced by employees in areas controlled by the regime due to delays in obtaining cards after renewing them.

The bank explained, according to what was reported by the Syrian News Agency (SANA) today, Wednesday, November 6, that it will start implementing this decision when renewing the banking card that has expired at the beginning of November.

Additionally, in the case of applying for an electronic payment card account, the card will be valid for up to four years from the date of issuance.

The bank automatically renews the card as soon as it expires and collects the necessary fees from the remaining balance on the card, which amounts to 15,000 Syrian pounds, according to the statement.

The bank clarified that the expiration date of the card is the end of the month stated on it.

After the delay crisis

In recent months, citizens have complained about the delays in receiving new ATM cards after the expiration of the previous ones, which led to delays in the disbursement of their salaries for several months.

The Syrian Commercial Bank justified the delay in printing and delivering the ATM cards on time for employees due to the pressure on banks during that period, due to the opening of new accounts for citizens to receive cash support.

At the end of June, the Syrian regime’s government requested that all citizens holding the smart card open bank accounts within three months, in preparation for transferring cash support amounts to them later, once the cash support system is completed and ready to appropriately serve the file, without specifying the timeframe for the distribution of cash support.

Syrian citizens do not benefit from electronic government services and still rely on queues as a means to organize access to services, including withdrawing money from ATMs or paying through their accounts in government institutions.

The culture of banking transactions in Syria is considered almost absent, due to the laws imposed by the regime’s government, such as a daily withdrawal ceiling on one hand and the depreciation of the Syrian pound on the other, which means losing the value of money if kept in banks while the value of the pound continues to decline.

Additionally, some electronic transactions in this context are unavailable due to the lack of infrastructure and programming, amidst daily problems faced by residents in Syria related to weak electricity and internet access.